Drinking less and better and the 250ml wine serving

There has been discussion recently over how much alcohol we should consume. A committee of MP's has recommended that we should have at least two 'dry' days each week to allow us to recover from the days when we have been binge drinking to reach our weekly allowance for intake of alcohol - defined in this country by the number of 'units' (the unit being 10ml of pure alcohol) drunk. Men, it is advised, should take in no more than 21 units per week. For women the figure is 14. These figures are believed to be the threshold beyond which damage to health may occur. It is of course ironic that MP's should be advising everyone else on alcohol consumption considering the large number of subsidised watering holes at which they can potentially drink in and around the Houses of Parliament. They do seem to have a point about excessive drinking. A look at volumes drunk in this country over the years shows a steady increase, and there has been a well-documented increase in the number of people - especially young people, treated for illnesses associated with excessive drinking, not to mention the Saturday night carnage in town centres. We should all perhaps be more careful about our alcohol intake and consider drinking a bit less and, as far as wine drinkers are concerned, better or more interesting and out of the way - or even more local (i.e. English Wine - try The Wine Pantry near Borough Market http://www.winepantry.co.uk/home.php).

This reflection led me to consider the way wine is sold in pubs and restaurants and to wonder at the 250ml wineglass, filled almost to the brim, which passes for a 'glass of wine'. To my mind this innocuous 'glass of wine' is an aberration, containing, as it does, one third of a bottle of wine, and if the wine contains 13% alcohol, amounting to 3.25 precious units ! One glass like this and you are very likely over your daily allowance; have two or three and you are waaay over...Not forgetting that the glass itself looks like a goldfish bowl (perhaps the next serving measure for plonk enthusiasts). Even in traditionally wine producing and drinking countries such as France this sort of measure is more often than not shared by two people, or consumed by one over the course of a whole meal. This 'glass of wine' even comes close to the once accepted (perhaps different now in Sarkozia) French daily wine ration of around 300ml for a man. Granted, in those antediluvian times, wines often contained no more than 8-10% alcohol. Still,  we Brits seem to have gone to extremes to catch up with our Gallic neighbours. In my view servings ought to be much smaller than 250ml and not gulped down to make room for the next glass.

Better the glass half full ?

A recent change to legislation allowing the dispensing of 'smaller' measures of less than 125ml ought to help, as do wine dispensers (see www.by-the-glass.co.uk/) which allow wine to keep for two weeks or more after opening. There is now no need to rush to finish an opened bottle, and you can use a large glass only partly filled which will allow you to better taste the wine (give it a good swirl to get air into it !). All in all drinking wine should be an enjoyable experience combining the stimulation of all the senses and the awakening of curiosity about the culture of how and where it was made and the story of those making it. It is also very much the accompaniment of food, unless drunk as an apéritif. So don't forget to order some food with your wine. It will enhance your enjoyment.